DENVER (KDVR) — There are hundreds of unsolved homicide cases, long-term missing person cases, and unidentified remains cases in Colorado where at least three years have passed since the crime happened.
The Colorado cold case task force created a list of those cases dating back to 1970. The Problem Solvers are working to highlight cold cases in our state.
Valentine’s Day murders
It has been 23 years since Stephanie Hart-Grizzell and Nick Kunselman were shot and killed at a Subway in Littleton.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office are still working to solve this cold case.
The shooting happened at 12:47 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2000. Kunselman, 15, was working at the Subway a few blocks from Columbine High School and Hart-Grizzell, 16, was waiting for him to get off work.
An employee of the restaurant noticed the lights were on after driving by and found the bodies of Kunselman and Hart-Grizzell behind the counter.
Investigators determined that the high school sweethearts had been shot by an unknown intruder or intruders.
To this day, the case remains cold.
In 2021, the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers increased the reward in this case up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or people involved.
“Horrific crimes like this one have an enormous impact on our community and touch the lives of everyone. We are hopeful that the increase will result in tips that will lead investigators to the person or persons responsible for this crime and hopefully start the closure process for the family and friends of Nicholas and Stephanie, as well as the community. On behalf of our all-volunteer Board of Directors and privately and anonymously funded donors, we will continue to work with the community and our law enforcement partners until this case is solved,” Michael Mills, Board President of Metro Denver Crime Stoppers said in 2021.
If you have any information, you can contact the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers by calling 720-913-7867. You can also reach out to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 303-271-0211.
Highlighting cold cases in Colorado
Here are some of the other cases we’ve highlighted:
- Cold case: Who murdered this young mom in 1985?
- Cold case: What happened to this woman who disappeared in 1990?
- Cold case: Who killed this 10-year-old boy in 1991?
- Cold case: Who murdered Stephanie Bauman 42 years ago?
- Cold case: Who murdered Jennifer Larsen 27 years ago?
- Cold case: Who shot David Williams to death in 2005?
- Cold case: Who murdered Maggie Long 1,651 days ago?
- Cold case: What happened to Elizabeth Miller 40 years ago?
- Cold case: Who kidnapped Christopher Abeyta 35 years ago?
- Cold case: Who killed JonBenét Ramsey 25 years ago?
- Cold case: Who killed Jessica Bejarano 15 years ago
- Cold case: Where is Terri Ackerman?
- Cold case: Who killed Richard Elliott at a grocery store 23 years ago?
- ‘Don’t ever give up hope’: Cold case: Who killed Edward Steinbach?
- Cold Case: Who killed Denise Davenport 37 years ago?
- Cold case: Who murdered James O’Neal Johnson 23 years ago?
- Cold case: Where is Jennifer Lynn Marcum?
- Cold case: Who murdered Daniel Lell in Aurora in 2013?
- Missing: Highlighting the search for people missing in Colorado
- 18 people remain unidentified in Denver since 1970
If you ever have a cold case you would like us to feature, please fill out this form or send an email to dara.bitler@digital-staging.kdvr.com-
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System shows there over 20,000 open missing persons cases in the United States and over 300 in Colorado.